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@Archiwave,
Pusat
Seni, Saturday 26 Feb 2005,
09:30am.
In
my office at the School of HBP, Wednesday 23Feb, I received a call.
I told the caller that I'd call him back. The moment I got home, no dinner yet, I got his call again.
"Sorry Datuk, for not returning the call earlier," I said.
"Hey!" he said, "Your students [oh oh]
are trying to drag me in... After not getting
other names like Ken Yeang, Lawrence Loh, they are going to the bottom of the
barrel..." [oh no!], There's a girl who supposedly was in Manchester University, didn't know that I
was a Visting Professor there... [Oh
No!], she asked me for my cv... u better be there... OH NO!
I thought, how could u do such a thing to Datuk; invite him last, at the last second. To think of it again, what about me? Haha, I'm a non-advising student
advisor. I'm not even invited.
Anyway at 3am Thursday a student showed an SMS he just got, "DS Lim CHANG Keat's
CV, get it from CikWan..."
At noon, at my office in HBP, in walked the girl from
Manchester who came to ask for DS's CV. Didn't know he's a DS now.
Anyway...
I asked, "Do you want to read it out or do you want me to do so?"
She wanted to do it herself. There went the invite.
Anyway, to the girl from
Manchester, unashamedly, I said, "No, I'll introduce
Datuk Seri."
So here I am.
Thank you Datuk Seri for inviting me. And greatly honored I am to do this
exercise.
Being invited in the final hours of an event, standing in for renowned architectural
celebrities, this is not new for Datuk Seri. Once in the student-organized MAB2002:
Convergence, we got Datuk Professor Parid Wardi b Sudin to give the keynote address at the Convergence Forum.
Parid agreed but later chickened out, and the secretary said that he had to attend
a kawat. That was a couple of days before the forum.
Who came to rescue the event when we had the Convergence
Dome (ConDome), a
geodesic dome fabricated and assembled by all the six institutions of
architecture? This Datuk Seri, a person close at heart to the inventor of geodesic dome
Buckminster Fuller, whose ideas we're trying to look at. Datuk Seri then highlighted the keyword,
DISINFORMATION. And in this state, to this date, have we remained so -
disinformed.
And this is the Datuk Seri, I'm here to do my best to introduce to u?
In summer 1979, I went to Bucky Fuller's lecture in Boston. Among other things
he said something like "It
is now possible to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than
any have ever known. Only ten years ago the 'more with less' technology
reached the point where this could be done. All humanity now has the option to
become enduringly successful." Two years later I met Bucky in Datuk
Seri's shop, Galeria, in George Town, Penang!
That's where and when we first met.
At that time, Datuk Seri and Robie Sularto from Indonesia took turns to host
Bucky's Campuan Meetings. In Penang the Campuan was held in Datuk's own
Bellevue, the hotel on Penang Hill - a historic place in which was held many a
meeting of minds. The last time I was there was when Datuk
Seri wanted to locate his
thinking space, an eco friendly water system was to be installed…
A fellow MIT alumnus, Datuk
Seri attended my lecture
"Malay House: Rationale and Change"
at the Penang Museum and was amused to find that I was from Serkat, Pontian
Johore. That's a different story. And the next thing
I knew, Datuk Seri got us to record all Malay houses
in Penang to be awarded prizes to help upkeep or
preserve the traditional look.
Datuk Seri also got me to attend lectures from orchids to u-name-it. Yesterday I passed
another on gardening.
He got me to attend work sessions with University of
Malaya's Rahmat Bayudi and Twin Tech Loo Yat
Ming in FRIM, Kepong where he was then the chairman.
He also got me to copy slides, scan images of something I find awfully hard to
remember like zingiberaceae, or something which he, as a taxonomist shares with the
world in his Folia malaysiana.
I remember when Datuk Seri took me to the printers printing
Folia, even the printer
complained, "With this guy, everything must be right!"
So here were we have with us,
DS THE PERFECTIONIST...
If students were serious about his CV, they could have just googled
for Datuk Seri. And they
can't possibly miss it. Google even has a spelling checker, although it doesn't
work on proper nouns, especially names of architects. And its not surprising if
they cant find Lim CHANG Keat.
This is what I found on the net yesterday
DS THE TEACHER
Arkitektenggara.com
Tay Kheng Soon, principal.
1997 article by Robert Powell, "unlearning"
"A major influence in his [Tay Kheng Soon's] formative years at the Polytechnic
was Datuk Seri, a dynamic young graduate of Manchester University and MIT, who was
a partner with William Lim Siew Wai and Chen Voon Fee in the practice of
Malayan Architects Co-Partnership formed in 1962 [Later there was Jurubina
Bertiga (Team Three), an etymological landmark, even before the term Arkitek
existed].
Datuk Seri left a strong impression of architectural integrity based on attitudes formed
while at MIT. The ethics of the Bauhaus; the idea of hands-on experience and
verbalising the process of architecture were conveyed to
Datuk Seri by Gyorgy Kepes,
and Tay strongly inbibed the Bauhaus tradition through DS where he taught for
two years in the Polytechnic..."
An old boy of the Penang Free School, "quiet and usually polite" as
Datuk Seri's teachers used to say of him,
although some, quite disagreeaby saw him as brash or undiplomatic. In art
and architecture, Datuk Seri is a critic.
DATUK
SERI THE CRITIC
"Modern Art Society Singapore (MASS) was formed in 1964 following the Modern
Art exhibition of 1963 by Ho Ho Ying,et al [Jolinda Goh, Tan Yee Hong, Ng Yat
Chuan, Tay Chee Toh, Wee Beng Chong and Tong Siang Eng].
In 1965 there was another exhibition. Three of Ho Ho Ying's oil works are
illustrated here: Cave Age , Rhythm of Dance and Stone Age,
'Datuk Seri noted in 1966 that Ho Ho Ying admitted to an intense admiration for the
work of Jackson Pollock, the American Abstract Expressionist which Ho had
seen mainly in illustrations and art titles.'"
DATUK
SERI THE COLLECTOR
Micci (Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce)
The HMS William Fairlie, a triple-masted. East Indiaman leaving the harbour of
Prince. of Wales Island.
http://www.micci.com/bulletin/pdf/bul_jan_feb_2003.pdf
Penang Story Project.
Captain Walter Alves, Sketch of Po. Pinang in the Strait of Malacca,
1763.
http://www.penangstory.net/chines-content-paperOoiBokKim.html
Datuk Seri collects not just paintings but slides, books, printed matter, domes, also
plants from the depth of our jungles, including the orang asli. Although no luxury cars
nor wives." Datuk
Seri writes about them.
DATUK
SERI THE AUTHOR
Archi inform. Book: Penang views,
1770-1860, Author: C. K. Lim,
Summer Times
Publishing; 1986
Archnet. Org MIT/ Aga Khan, The International Context for South East Asian
Architecture, Citation Keat,
LC. 1983. The International Context for South East
Asian Architecture. In Architecture and Identity.
Robert Powell, ed. Singapore:
WWD 2001 Event: USA (Hawai), A Conference to Support the World Day.
Datuk Seri Dr LCK ( Singapore Architect & Designer / Gold medal award for PAM ...
Buckminster Fuller- An Architect.
http://www.worldwaterday.org/2001/events/ev77.html
MAAN 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - TOWARDS MODERN ASIAN
ARCHITECTURE. The Centre for Advanced Studies in Architecture (CASA) at
the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, 30 August
2002. One of two keynote speakers, DS has been described as
"a highly prominent architect who has been responsible for many major buildings and planning projects in Malaysia, Singapore and other countries, and has a strong interest in botanical conservation. He was awarded the Gold Medal for
Architectural Design by the
Malaysian Institute of Architects last year." Topic: "Realities for the Future of
Architecture"
DATUK
SERI
THE ARCHITECT
PAM: Corporate Member Firm
Address: 215, Jalan Macalister, 10450, Pulau Pinang.
Name: Lim Chong Keat, Datuk.
And I haven't even looked at what's on his business card;
Architect/ Urban Designer with DGPN - Darjah Gemilang Pangkuan Negri -
Knight Grand Commander,
DSPN, BBM, APAM, LL.D (Honoris causa) (Manchester), Quartercentenary
Visiting Fellow, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Arc Pte Ltd, Singapore...
And needing a turnaround is what's imprinted on the other side of his
business card... DATUK SERI LIM CHONG KEAT.
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